A Star-Studded Goodbye to All That

“I know why we try to keep the dead alive,” the actress Vanessa Redgrave said on Wednesday evening, speaking from a lectern at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where she was accompanied by her son-in-law, the movie star Liam Neeson. “We try to keep them…

A Pesto for Every Pantry and Mood

I don’t worry too much about my food obsessions, which fade in and out all year long. They have a way of naturally sorting themselves out: The habit will become too expensive to sustain (I’m thinking of the boxes of stretchy, wrinkly, extremely satisfying yuba noodles that I buy and want to eat constantly!). Or…

How to Become a Better Cook

One of my favorite episodes of “This American Life” begins with a conversation between the host Ira Glass and the culinary griot and author Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor. In the episode, Mr. Glass decides to test Ms. Smart-Grosvenor’s claim that she can tell when chicken is done frying by simply listening to the oil. He plays recordings…

Why Omicron Might Stick Around

Where is Pi? Last year, the World Health Organization began assigning Greek letters to worrying new variants of the coronavirus. The organization started with Alpha and swiftly worked its way through the Greek alphabet in the months that followed. When Omicron arrived in November, it was the 13th named variant in less than a year.…